Caxton Associates LLP Makes New Investment in Post Holdings, Inc. $POST

Caxton Associates LLP acquired a new position in Post Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:POST) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 7,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $837,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Post by 5.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,418,085 shares of the company’s stock worth $630,448,000 after buying an additional 277,786 shares during the last quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Post by 3.2% in the first quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,364,510 shares of the company’s stock worth $391,494,000 after buying an additional 105,325 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Post by 53.4% in the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,045,306 shares of the company’s stock worth $119,646,000 after buying an additional 364,006 shares during the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Post by 26.4% in the first quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 915,487 shares of the company’s stock worth $106,526,000 after buying an additional 191,081 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Post by 0.6% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 556,982 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,812,000 after buying an additional 3,338 shares during the last quarter. 94.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Post news, Director William P. Stiritz acquired 36,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was bought at an average price of $109.53 per share, for a total transaction of $3,943,080.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 4,334,667 shares in the company, valued at $474,776,076.51. This represents a 0.84% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on POST. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Post from $130.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Post from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Post from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Post from $133.00 to $127.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Post from $120.00 to $117.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.20.

Post Stock Down 1.1%

NYSE POST opened at $104.74 on Thursday. Post Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $101.05 and a twelve month high of $125.84. The stock has a market cap of $5.69 billion, a PE ratio of 17.81 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 2.60. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $107.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $110.93.

Post (NYSE:POST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.36. Post had a net margin of 4.62% and a return on equity of 10.80%. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.95 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.54 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Post Holdings, Inc. will post 6.41 EPS for the current year.

Post declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Friday, August 29th that allows the company to repurchase $0.00 in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Post Company Profile

Post Holdings, Inc operates as a consumer packaged goods holding company in the United States and internationally. It operates through four segments: Post Consumer Brands, Weetabix, Foodservice, and Refrigerated Retail. The Post Consumer Brands segment manufactures, markets, and sells branded and private label ready-to-eat (RTE) cereals under Honey Bunches of Oats, Pebbles, and Malt-O-Meal brand names; hot cereal; peanut butter under the Peter Pan brand; and branded and private label dog and cat food products under Rachael Ray Nutrish, Nature's Recipe, 9Lives, Kibbles 'n Bits and Gravy Train brand names.